Townsend's Brian Crane on Monday finished the Boston Marathon for the 25th consecutive year. Only 40 or so runners have active streaks of finishing 25 or more consecutive Boston Marathons.

"I was excited to get my 25th, then heard that other stuff, that some people had died. It put a big damper on the whole thing," said Crane, 48, the Chelmsford High boys' cross country coach.

Two bombs exploded 100 yards apart near the finish line of the 117th Boston Marathon on Monday, killing at least three people and injuring more than 130 in what officials suspect is a terrorist attack.

Crane was out of the area at the time of the explosions, having finished in 3 hours, 14 minutes, 20 seconds.

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Two of his former runners, running Boston for the first time, were well up ahead of him.

Of 27,000 runners in this race, former Chelmsford High runner Josh Andrews finished his first Boston Marathon in 331st place overall, in 2 hours, 41 minutes, 37 seconds.

Andrews then walked a few blocks to retrieve his bag. He was walking back toward the finish line when explosions struck a block away. "Absolute chaos," said Andrews. "I certainly saw things I don't want to talk about."

Andrews' father Thomas, running his second Boston Marathon, was among those unable to finish the race after runners were rerouted. As for a race about which it is difficult to reflect: "Every race you want to run a PR," said Josh Andrews, 24, two minutes slower on Monday than his 2:39:02 clocking while finishing third at the 2011 BayState Marathon. "But the Boston course, you have to take what it gives you. It certainly kicked my butt. But now that I know the course, maybe I'll do better in the future."

Andrews, a business graduate student at Southern New Hampshire University who now lives in Portsmouth, N.H., ran 16 miles of the race with his former Chelmsford High and Stonehill College teammate Joe Ryan.

Ryan, 26, finished 339th overall in 2:41:46.

"I did what my body told me to do. I backed off a little just to make sure I finished the race," said Ryan. "I saw Josh again with about a mile to go. I thought I might get him. I got pretty close."

Ryan finished eight spots behind Andrews. He was thrilled with his time. His girlfriend Kristen Martin also ran the race, finishing in 3:27:29.

"Me and Josh went and got our stuff. I waited for (Martin) to finish. I was going to see my family..." recalled Ryan.

And he heard the explosions.

"Heard the first bang, then heard the second bang, and knew something was obviously wrong," said Ryan.

Mass confusion

Ryan's mother Kathy and brother Cory were eating lunch at the Lenox Hotel across the street from the first blast. They ran out to search for Ryan and were hit by smoke, he said.

"It's just incredibly sad," said Ryan. " I haven't been able to process everything so far. I just thank God my family is safe, that we got out of there, and pray for the injured."

Westford's Scott Graham officially finished Boston for the 27th consecutive year. Each year he leaves his car in a parking garage the night before the race, positioned for an easy exit from the city. He was proceeding with his plan, though disappointed in his race time of 3:26:34.

Graham was back at the Park Plaza Hotel, wobbly on a day when his quadriceps locked up at mile nine. When the explosions then occurred a half-mile away, Graham did not hear them. He walked from the hotel into a chaotic scene of anxious people attempting to locate friends and family.

"People were in shock," said Graham, 54, who eventually located his son, Scott, a Wentworth student there watching the race.

Carlisle's Ronald Kmiec, 70, was only a half-mile from finishing the Boston Marathon for a 40th consecutive year, set to clock in at just over 4:20, when he was halted by police. He hopes the BAA recognizes he would have finished.

"We had no idea what was going on," said Kmiec. "Everyone stopped at the underpass at Mass. Avenue, and people said something was going on up ahead, an explosion or something. I jumped over the barricade and ran up almost to Hereford Street. But the police stopped everybody at that point."

Though overshadowed by tragic events, other local runners had notable accomplishments. Concord's Chris Hartshorn, 41, finished 49th overall in 2:27:58, the best finish by a local runner. Chelmsford's James Sullivan, 27, finished 245th overall in 2:38:41.

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